🛠️ Dotfiles – Bash, Git, and CLI Utilities

This is my personal dotfiles setup for Linux systems (primarily Linux Mint), using GNU Stow for easy symlink management and git for version control.

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📁 Included

• .bash_aliases – useful command aliases for better terminal productivity
• .gitconfig – Git configuration with user identity, aliases, etc.
• bin/ – custom scripts added to ~/bin for quick access
• e.g., generate_commit_history.sh for quick Git summaries

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🔧 How to Use (on a new machine)

1. Install GNU Stow

   sudo apt install stow

2. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles
   cd ~/dotfiles

3. Stow your configs

   stow bash
   stow git
   stow bin

   This will:

   • Link .bash_aliases to ~/.bash_aliases
   • Link .gitconfig to ~/.gitconfig
   • Link all custom scripts to ~/bin

4. Reload your terminal config

   source ~/.bashrc

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XDG Base Directory Structure

To keep the home directory clean, this setup now follows the XDG Base Directory Specification. Configurations are stored in ~/.config/ where possible.

The new folder structure is:

dotfiles/
├── bash/
│   └── .bash_aliases
├── git/
│   └── .config/
│       └── git/
│           └── config
├── tmux/
│   └── .config/
│       └── tmux/
│           └── tmux.conf
└── bin/
    └── bin/
        └── generate_commit_history.sh
        └── tmpenv

tmpenv – Temporary Development Environment

A utility to quickly create isolated development environments using Docker.

Usage:

tmpenv <environment-name>

This will:

• Create a new Docker container with a specified name.
• Expose a unique SSH port for the environment.
• Install basic development tools (Git, curl, vim, etc.).
• Set a default password (dev) for the root user.

Example:

tmpenv my-project

Managing Environments:

• SSH Access: ssh -p <PORT> root@localhost
• Stop: docker stop <environment-name>
• Start: docker start <environment-name>
• Clean Up: docker rm -f <environment-name> && docker volume rm <environment-name>-data

Adding New Dotfiles

To add a new application's configuration (e.g., for nvim):

1. Create the package directory: mkdir nvim
2. Create the target directory structure inside it: mkdir -p nvim/.config/nvim
3. Place your configuration file at the target path: mv ~/my-nvim-config nvim/.config/nvim/init.vim
4. Stow the new package: stow nvim

Unlinking (Removing) Packages

To remove the symlinks for a package, use the -D flag:

stow -D git
stow -D tmux

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✅ Why use GNU Stow?

It makes it super easy to:

• Apply or remove individual config groups (like bash, git, etc.)
• Keep your home directory clean
• Avoid manual copying of dotfiles

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🌐 License

MIT — feel free to use, fork, or modify!

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🔗 Author

Maintained by SYED SADIQ ALI Follow on LinkedIn or GitHub